CANADA'S Finest (Yes, Canada) (pop, single, title, bands, 1979)

VEGANGELICA · 11-01-2012, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by katsy

I actually made the heading --Saddest.Song.Ever.; dare you to listen-- so that someone may actually listen to it. I see so many threads with obscure band/musician names and I just breeze right over-- unless it looks interesting, or I'm bored. So that's what that was about. Also, I do not think the song is about someone not wanting to be with the other. I think it is the exact opposite. I think it is about someone who wants very much to be with their love, but is unable to do so fully.

To me the reason this song is sad and depressing is because it is about dementia and Alzheimer's-- which, like most diseases, is freaking awful. It robs you of your memories and your loved ones.

The song is about aging and losing your memories. I actually heard Mangan explain this: the song "Basket" is about having memories in a basket and you can't keep them in it; they (memories) are spilling out.

"just a bakset full of memories/ and i'm losing more each day it seems" then it goes on, "if I could make it to the street I'd steal a car, or a bike..." The desperation there is just heart wrenching, to me. -- (I've seen my grandmother want to run away from confusion. You're constantly hearing of dementia patients that wander away or get lost)

So the song is about losing everything, but not by your own choice. Your body is turning on you robbing you of your loved ones.

Also, when you age, your family tends to forget about you. Place you in a nursing home, no visits, etc. I believe this song touches on that as well.

The part that always gets me "so i'll brace my self against the wall/ and hope to god that I don't fall..... my hip won't hold/ how did i get so old"

Breaking a hip is, very commonly, a life-ending event in the elderly. It is a hard surgery on the body. It takes a toll, especially for someone with Alzheimer's.
My grandmother, whom I loved like my own mother. I won't go on and on, but she was "it" for me. She passed away recently and suffered from this disease. Also, what sent her over the edge was when she fell and broke her hip.

Dan Mangan wrote this song about his grandparents and well, it hit home.The reason I find it to be so depressing is not only the very personal factor, but it just conveys what it is like to age and lose yourself. While life may have been wonderful and great, you can't remember that. Your scared and just want to remember your grand kids names. Its about lamenting the loss of your youth and your life. Also it's about saying goodbye to your life, your love, etc.

Thanks for listening! I love this song and really wanted to share it.

Thank you for explaining more about the song, katsy.

Described as you describe it, I can see more of the sadness in the song. For example, it wasn't clear to me if the man was entirely alone. Also, it wasn't clear to me how many of his memories he had lost, so when I heard the song I was thinking, "Hey! He still knows who his son is! He remembers he had a dog! He isn't screaming in pain, at 9/10 on the pain scale!" I was comparing his end of life with the situations I've known that are even worse.

I agree with you about the sadness of Alzheimer's. In fact, just yesterday I was talking with a young man who said he worked at an Alzheimer's unit but only stayed for two weeks because it was so depressing. The reason is that so many of the people, as they lost their memories and sense of reality, experienced terror and horrible sadness, he said. It was hard for the young man to cope.

I'm sorry about your grandmother's dying, and I'm thinking how fortunate she was to have you.

When you write, "While life may have been wonderful and great, you can't remember that," I relate very much, because I have seen my father going through this. When you are ill and in pain, the happy times you once experienced evaporate (even if they can be remembered). It is as if they never happened. I wrote a song for my dad and gave him the lyrics months ago that include these lines, because I wanted him to know I see and understand his situation: "You call emergency. Your capsized quality of life is sinking, your options shrinking as memories and pleasures cease to release you and bring relief from your present descent. [...] You struggle in the waves. Now all that I can say if I'm sorry you have to live through this. I'm sorry we're both helpless this Mayday when no worship will save you and no spring will renew health and youth as you're drowning."

I'll listen to more of Dan Mangan (I do like robots!

). Thank you again for taking the time to describe your connection to his song "Basket."

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